Review of the Year January - June

Last updated at 11:41 29 December 2005

It was England's best hope of Ashes victory for years - but haven't we heard that before, the Lions travelled to New Zealand, a place to football's World Cup was up for grabs and a future Dame was sailing the globe.

Records were broken, history made and as new sporting heroes emerged others departed.

Look back at the first part of 2005 with our sporting review. For July to December click here

JANUARY

The year began with the English cricket team succumbing to their first Test defeat since December 2003 in South Africa as the hosts levelled the series 1-1 in Cape Town. The fourth Test saw Matthew Hoggard play the part of destroyer as the floppy-haired Yorkshireman took seven wickets on the final day as England triumphed by 77 runs. At Centurion Park England drew the final Test to win a series in South Africa for the first time in 40 years.

In football some of the magic of the FA Cup was restored in the third round as Oldham beat Manchester City, while Exeter had Sir Alex Ferguson fuming at his inept second string after forcing a reply with Manchester United.

In darts, legend Phil Taylor triumphed in the Ladbrokes World Championship - his 12th title.

FEBRUARY

Ellen MacArthur returns to Britain after sailing solo around the world in record time. She completed her voyage in 71 days 14 hours 18 minutes and 33 seconds, beating the previous record by 33 hours. She became Dame Ellen before the year was out.

Steven Gerrard scored a late own goal in the Carling Cup final as Chelsea came from behind to take the first important piece of silverware of the season after extra-time in Cardiff. Jose Mourinho escaped punishment for a Ssh! gesture, saying his action was aimed at the media not the Liverpool fans.

Gavin Henson struck the winning penalty four minutes from time as Wales stamped their intentions firmly on the 2005 Six Nations with an 11-9 opening win against England. By the end of the month the English had also been beaten by France and Ireland, while Wales were on course for a clean sweep with victory over the French in Paris.

England's footballers play out a boring goalless draw with Holland, the nation's cricketers lose 4-1 in the one-day series in South Africa and the New England Patriots won the Superbowl.

Finally, the month was enlivened by a rosy-cheeked Delia Smith's calls of "Let's be 'aving you." The memorable rant was a half-time rallying cry to the Norwich faithful as they took on Manchester City. The game finished 3-2 to City.

MARCH

Wales defeated Ireland and wrapped up an amazing Six Nations Grand Slam playing an exciting blend of backline rugby. England salvaged a shred of pride with victories over Scotland and Italy.

Chelsea triumphed in a rollercoaster of a two-legged tie against Barcelona in the knockout rounds of the Champions League. Memorable events on the pitch were overshadowed by Chelsea's claims that Frank Rijkaard visited the room of referee Anders Frisk. Frisk retired soon afterwards. Arsenal and Manchester United bowed out to European giants Bayern Munich and Milan respectively.

In the World Cup qualifiers England won a double header against Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan, Kicking King ridden by Barry Geraghty won the Gold Cup and Oxford finished in the third fastest time ever in the Boat Race.

Both English teams reached the Champions League semi-finals. Chelsea beat Bayern Munich 6-5 on aggregate in a manner that was more comfortable than the scoreline suggests, while Liverpool's defence held firm against Juventus in Turin. So who would Liverpool and Chelsea face in the semis?

Inter Milan played rivals AC in another of the quarter-final clashes but the match was marred by flares thrown onto the pitch, one of which hit the rossoneri keeper Dida.

In rugby's Powergen Cup Leeds Tykes beat Gloucester, pre-race favourite Hedgehunter won the Grand National, Newcastle crashed out of the UEFA Cup against Sporting Lisbon and Paula Radcliffe won the London Marathon, despite an unscheduled pit-stop.

MAY

The two English teams were drawn together in the Champions League semi-final and controversy reigned at Anfield as a hotly-debated "did-it-cross-the-line-didn't-it?" Luis Garcia strike gave Liverpool a 1-0 victory over Chelsea and booked their surprise place in the final in Istanbul.

On 25 May in one of the great European finals Liverpool faced top European side Milan. Liverpool found themselves 1-0 down after a minute and 3-0 at half-time. Led by the imperious Steven Gerrard, Liverpool came back with three goals in six minutes and take the game to extra-time.

The shell-shocked Italians pressurised the Reds' backline, but it held firm with Jerzy Dudek making a remarkable double save against Andriy Shevchenko. Liverpool went on to cap a truly historical comeback by triumphing in the penalty shootout and their fifth victory in the competition saw the trophy being given to the Anfield club. But would they be given the opportunity to defend their title? And if so, would it be at the expense of fourth-placed city rivals Everton?

Fans of the oval ball saw Wasps beat Leicester 39-14 in the Zurich Premiership final, as the game bade farewell to England's World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson. It was Wasps' third successive title triumph. Meanwhile the British and Irish Lions warmed up for their tour of New Zealand with a shambolic 25-25 draw with a team of Argentinian reserves.

In the FA Cup Rio Ferdinand was reduced to tears as Manchester United lost to Arsenal on penalties, the first-ever shootout in FA Cup Final history. United dominated the game, but ended the season without silverware.

In the Heineken Cup Toulouse were victorious in the all-French final, England beat Bangladesh in the first Test at Lord's by an innings and 261 runs while the French Open singles were won by Spanish sensation Rafael Nadal and petite Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne.

JUNE

England wrapped up the expected series stroll against Bangladesh. It may have only been a Twenty20 match, but England's subsequent victory over the Australians had the fans delighted and slightly tentative proclamations of English summer success began to be heard.

The trumpeted British and Irish Lions kicked off their tour of New Zealand with Sir Clive Woodward's army of 98 players and 380 backroom specialists (slight exaggeration) with victory over the Bay of Plenty, although the loss of Lawrence Dallaglio to a fractured right ankle was a massive blow.

The first Test saw the Lions captain Brian O'Driscoll carried off following a 'spear tackle' by Tana Umaga and Kevin Mealamu that ended his tour, and the Lions lost Richard Hill as they were mauled 21-3 by the All Blacks.

Ashley Cole, Jose Mourinho and Chelsea were found guilty in the Premier League's tapping-up probe. The trio were handed record fines after being said to have breached league rules by secretly meeting at a London restaurant on 27 January without Arsenal's knowledge.

Meanwhile Motivator triumphed in the Epsom Derby, Brazil destroyed Argentina in style to win the Confederations Cup and Liverpool were granted the right to defend their European title after a typical UEFA fudge.

Did the British and Irish Lions come back against the All Blacks? Did Australia dominate the Ashes, again? Who won Wimbledon? Find out in part two of our review of the sporting year.